US Condemns Beating of Ukrainian Journalist Tetyana Chornovil - East Idaho News
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US Condemns Beating of Ukrainian Journalist Tetyana Chornovil

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UKRAINE?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1388108059144iStock/Thinkstock(KIEV, Ukraine) — The beating of Ukrainian opposition journalist Tetyana Chornovil is “disturbing,” the State Dept. said Thursday, after Chornovil was reportedly attacked in her car outside Kiev on Christmas night.

Chornovil has suggested at least two men driving a Porsche Cayenne were paid to attack her. The beating has stirred anger among protesters in Kiev, who have held photos of Chornovil’s swollen, bruised face at demonstrations.

In a statement released Thursday, spokeswoman Jen Psaki expressed “grave concern over an emerging pattern of targeted violence and intimidation towards activists and journalists who participated in or reported on the EuroMaidan protests.”

Psaki also called on Ukraine to respect human rights and uphold its commitments to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a regional security group that held meetings in Kiev earlier this month. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry skipped those meetings after Ukraine turned away from an EU trade pact, visiting Moldova instead, a trip designed to promote the kind of European partnership Chornovil and other activists have reportedly been targeted for demanding.

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